OXFORD AND Latin America - University of Oxford and Latin... · 2020. 6. 10. · Latin America in...

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OXFORD AND Latin America

2019–20

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C O N T E N T S

The University of Oxford .............................3

Oxford and Latin America ...........................8

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B E N E F I T T I N G S O C I E T Y G L O B A L LY

Nobel PrizesCurrent and former Oxford staff and students had won a total of 51 Nobel Prizes by 2018, with multiple Oxford alumni and staff winning prizes in each of the six categories.

Notable Nobel laureates associated with the University include chemist Dorothy Hodgkin; economists Amartya Sen and Joseph Stiglitz; Howard Florey, a member of the team that discovered penicillin; authors VS Naipaul and TS Eliot; physicist Erwin Schrödinger; and Peace Prize recipient José Ramos-Horta.

Current and former Oxford staff and students have also won a total of 21 Fields Medals, Balzan Prizes, Rolf Schock Prizes and Abel Prizes.

The University of Oxford aims to advance learning by teaching and research for the benefit of society on a global scale.

Drawing strength from its distinctive, college-based structure and interdisciplinary culture, Oxford has consistently developed its capacity to generate and share knowledge. For hundreds of years the University has continued to make significant contributions to global society, culture and economics.

Oxford’s expertise encompasses science, health, society and culture. In each of these areas the University has made key contributions to the advancement of knowledge.

Research carried out by Oxford’s staff, students and alumni has made an enormous impact on the world over the centuries. Among the most distinctive elements of Oxford’s unique profile are the University’s success in spinning out companies that convert scientific research into high tech products and services; its global network of tropical medicine laboratories, which have been at the forefront of the fight against infectious disease for decades; and its close connections with British history, philosophy, religion and literature.

The impact of Oxford’s expertise in research and education is further enhanced by Oxford University Press, the world’s biggest English language academic press and English language teaching publisher.

In the coming decade the University will further expand the impact of its research and education to maintain Oxford’s position as one of the world’s most renowned centres of learning.

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A C E N T R E O F L E A R N I N G F O R M O R E T H A N 9 0 0 Y E A R S

World leaders educated at OxfordAround 60 heads of government or state, including 27 British Prime Ministers and at least 30 leaders of other nations, have either been educated or have taught at Oxford.

Notable world leaders associated with the University include: King Abdullah II of Jordan, former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto, former President of the United States Bill Clinton, former President of Ghana John Kufuor, former Prime Minister of Canada and Nobel Peace Prize recipient Lester B. Pearson, former President of East Timor and Nobel Peace Prize recipient José Ramos-Horta, former Prime Minister of India Dr Manmohan Singh, and former Prime Minister of Australia Bob Hawke.

The University of Oxford is the oldest university in the English-speaking world. The exact date of the University’s foundation is not known, but teaching was taking place in Oxford by 1096. The University developed rapidly after 1167, when King Henry II banned English students from attending the University of Paris.

Despite a popular legend that University College was founded by King Alfred the Great in 872, it is now accepted that Oxford’s three oldest existing colleges – University, Balliol and Merton – were founded between 1249 and 1264. Colleges continued to be founded in Oxford in the centuries that followed, with the most recent, Green Templeton College, being created in 2008 by the merger of Green and Templeton Colleges, both of which were themselves founded in the second half of the twentieth century.

By the late medieval period, Oxford had achieved eminence above every other seat of learning, winning the praises of popes, kings and sages. In 1355, Edward III paid tribute not only to the University itself, but also to the services to the country provided by Oxford graduates.

Since that time, the University has been at the heart of Britain’s scientific, cultural, religious and political development. Oxford hosted King Charles I’s counter-Parliament during the English Civil War, was the scene of famous debates about evolution, and educated half of Britain’s Prime Ministers. Over the centuries Oxford’s ancient teaching and research departments such as the Faculty of Divinity and Faculty of Classics have continually evolved, and have been joined by new centres for teaching and research such as the Blavatnik School of Government and the interdisciplinary Oxford Martin School. The University will continue to grow its teaching and research capabilities to meet society’s ever-evolving needs.

C O N N E C T I N G B R I TA I N A N D T H E W O R L DEmo of Friesland became the first international student at Oxford, when he travelled from Groningen (now in the Netherlands) to Oxford in around 1190. His time at the University marks the start of Oxford’s long history of internationalisation: alumnus Thomas Stephens was the first recorded Englishman to visit India in 1579, while the University began collecting Chinese publications in 1604.

Oxford played a leading role in training British civil servants for service abroad from the middle of the nineteenth century. In the 1960s these courses opened up to aspiring diplomatic leaders from around the world, transforming into the Diplomatic Studies Programme, also known as the Foreign Service Programme, which still exists today. The Programme now has more than 1,200 alumni and has contributed staff to more than 140 countries’ diplomatic services.

Engraving of Broad Street, Oxford, by James Basire, from a drawing by Edward Dayes, c.1800

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A P E R S O N A L A P P R O A C H T O E D U C A T I O NOxford’s approach to undergraduate teaching is based around the intensive Oxford tutorial: the heart of an undergraduate education at the University. The Oxford tutorial is a conversation, normally between two or three students and their tutor, who is an expert on the topic. Teaching in this way offers a level of personalised attention from academic experts that is rare even at other world-leading universities.

Tutorials are provided at Oxford’s colleges. Every student is a member of a college as well as the University. The colleges are academic communities, comprehensive in their provision of education yet focused in terms of scale. They also provide libraries, study spaces and lodgings for many students, and are the hub for social life.

At their tutorials students are encouraged to go beyond the facts they have learned, developing their own theories to challenge the assumptions of their classmates and even their tutor. The tutorial makes an undergraduate education at Oxford intensive and challenging; its spirit of free inquiry and discourse is an essential expression of Oxford’s culture and values. Tutorials are combined with learning through lectures, seminars and laboratory work.

W O R L D - C L A S S R E S O U R C E S

Roughly half of Oxford’s students are postgraduates. Postgraduate students are also members of a college (with the exception of those on non-matriculated courses). Although their teaching and research activities take place in their department, they also benefit from their college’s resources and are able to draw upon the expertise of its interdisciplinary community, as well as the subject specialists in their department.

Education is bolstered by lectures from leading academics, some of the world’s largest libraries and best-equipped laboratories, and a rich term-time schedule of public lectures, debates and screenings. Oxford students are also able to draw on the collections of the University’s four museums, including the Ashmolean, the world’s first university museum and one of the most-visited sites in Britain.

Oxford’s postgraduate students are part of a world-renowned research community. The University’s research output was rated first out of all UK universities in the Research Excellence Framework 2014, and its medical and health teaching and research has been rated best in the world for six years running by Times Higher Education.

Around 50 percent of all Oxford’s postgraduate students receive full or partial funding to study at the University, including about 80 percent of doctoral students. Scholarships available to Oxford postgraduate applicants include the prestigious Clarendon Scholarships, awarded to the most promising research students, and the world-famous Rhodes Scholarships.

Above: The Weston Library

Left: Student in tutorial

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Chinese student numbers have increased more than

tenfold in the last 20 years

Oxford appoints its first Chinese employee

More than 70 faculty now study the Middle East

The first Laudian Professor of Arabic is appointed

The University now employs 170 Indian faculty

Oxford alumnus Thomas Stephens visits India

The University now has 44 colleges and halls

Oxford’s earliest existing college is founded

The oldest university in the English-speaking world

Study begins at Oxford

Today almost 50% of students are from

outside the UK

Oxford admits 1st international student

U N I V E R S I T Y O F O X F O R D T I M E L I N E Oxford has been a centre of learning, research and innovation for more than 900 years.

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The University was also ranked top in 2018 and 2017, second in 2016

and third in 2015

Oxford is ranked the best university in

the world by the Times Higher Education World

University Rankings

The University has now launched more than 150 spinout companies

Needle-free injection company PowderJect founded, one of Oxford’s early spinouts

Almost 60 heads of state or government have been

educated at the University

Bill Clinton is admitted to Oxford

In total, Oxford staff and students have received 51 Nobel Prizes

Howard Florey awarded Nobel Prize for the

discovery of penicillin

Oxford University Press is the world’s biggest English-

language academic press

Publication of the first parts of the Oxford

English Dictionary

All undergraduate colleges now admit both men and women

Foundation of Lady Margaret Hall and Somerville, Oxford’s

first two women’s colleges

1,700 American students now study at Oxford

Abraham Lincoln is sworn into office on

an Oxford University Press bible*

*Barack Obama used the same bible

The University now has 375 buildings, not including college buildings

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O X F O R D ’ S L A T I N A M E R I C A N C E N T R EThe Latin American Centre (LAC) acts as a hub for the study of Latin America across a wide range of disciplines in Oxford, including anthropology, geography, music and literature. Visiting academics and visiting doctoral students, from within and outside the United Kingdom, add to a vibrant community of scholars working on a variety of topics of central concern for the region.

The research carried out by the LAC’s academic staff covers significant areas such as transitional justice, coalitional presidentialism, the political influence of remittances, the political economy of inequality, history of the police, urban development, and the history of democracy.

The LAC was founded in 1964 to promote the study of Latin America in the United Kingdom and is now part of the Oxford School of Global and Area Studies (OSGA). The LAC offers a one-year MSc in Latin American Studies, a two-year MPhil in Latin American Studies and, through OSGA, a DPhil in Area Studies (Latin America), bringing together over 20 students working on the region at a graduate level.

The LAC’s masters’ programmes concentrate on the modern history, politics, economics, international relations and sociology of the region.

As a centre for the study of the region, the LAC serves as a venue for debating ongoing research and relevant current affairs. Leading international scholars and key public figures from the region regularly contribute to the LAC’s flagship weekly seminar, and a History seminar meets once a week; a programme that often includes joint events with other universities in Europe and the Americas.

The LAC also runs a Brazilian Studies programme, which hosts a yearly conference on Brazil as well as regular academic visitors from Brazil. In addition, the LAC hosts a DPhil seminar that brings together doctoral students across the university studying topics related to Latin America from a wide range of disciplines in the social sciences and humanities.

An important part of the LAC is the Bodleian Latin American Library, located on the ground floor and basement of its building. Its 16,000 volumes, together with journals, microfilms and DVDs, form an important specialist lending collection for those studying Latin American social sciences and history.

G R O W I N G O X F O R D - L A T I N A M E R I C A P A R T N E R S H I P SThe University of Oxford’s links with Latin America have grown from strength to strength over the past 50 years. Latin American students have been consistently engaged in an ever-widening range of departments, the University has been host to a stream of visiting academics, and the study of Latin America has featured across an expanding range of disciplines. We are also proud to have over 1,750 Oxford alumni resident in the region.

Oxford is seeking to forge new partnerships with Latin America as countries in the region develop economically and internationalise their higher education and research. Building out from the Oxford’s Latin American Centre, the University is developing a new Latin American Network, with ambitions to increase dramatically our engagement with the region across all five divisions of the collegiate University. Oxford aims to position itself as the region’s partner of choice through our rapidly expanding research and educational links.

STAFF PROFILEAndreza de Sousa SantosDr Andreza Aruska de Souza Santos is the Director of the Brazilian Studies Programme and Departmental Lecturer at the Latin American Centre. Her work focuses on political and urban ethnography, incorporating themes of cultural heritage, participatory city planning, and mining economies. Before arriving in Oxford, Andreza completed her PhD in Social Anthropology at the University of St Andrews; a Masters in Social Sciences at the University of Freiburg, University of KwaZulu Natal and Jawaharlal Nehru University; and her Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science at the University of Brasilia.

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The Indian and Latin American Gallery at the Ashmolean Museum

B R A Z I L I A N S T U D I E S A T O X F O R DHeaded by Dr Andreza de Sousa Santos, the Brazilian Studies Programme brings together scholars from around the University of Oxford who are teaching and researching on Brazilian topics. Four research clusters are associated with the programme: International Relations; Comparative Politics; Language and Culture; and Environmental Studies.

In 2018/19, the Latin American Centre hosted three visiting professors and seven visiting students under the programme. The programme:

n Co-ordinates and develops postgraduate teaching and advanced research on Brazil across the social sciences and humanities;

n Brings scholars, intellectuals, and policymakers from Brazil and elsewhere to Oxford to provide them with the environment in which to pursue the academic study of Brazil, international issues, and problems with a Brazilian dimension;

n Promotes a greater understanding of Brazil, its history, society, culture, politics, economy, ecology, and international relations through a programme of lectures, seminars, workshops and conferences, research projects, and publications; and

n Extends and strengthens academic links between the University of Oxford and universities or research institutions in Brazil – and elsewhere with centres or programmes of Brazilian studies.

The Brazilian Studies Programme also supports Brazilian students through the Brazilian Society - a student-led initiative committed to maximising the experience of current Brazilian students at Oxford, while also targeting potential students in Brazil. Other activities led by Brazilian students have gained importance at the University – the Oxbridge Conference on Brazilian Studies is celebrating its eight year and the Brazil Forum UK its third year.

Brazilian National Congress, Brasilia, Distrito Federal, Brazil

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T H E O R I G I N S A N D R E S I L I E N C E O F L A T I N A M E R I C A N C R O P SThe domestication of many important crop plants, including potato, tomato, beans and maize first occurred in various regions of the Americas. Multiple groups in the Department of Plant Sciences are studying different aspects of these crops and related wild species in collaboration with partners in Latin American countries. Professor Robert Scotland’s group in the University of Oxford’s Department of Plant Sciences has studied the origins of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) with assistance from colleagues at the International Potato Center, Lima, Peru, and herbaria and collections in Brazil and Bolivia. Beans, including the common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris) and lima bean (Phaseolus lunatus) were domesticated on multiple occasions in various parts of Central and South America.

It is increasingly clear that the microorganisms associated with plants play an important role in plant health. Professor Gail Preston’s group is working with seeds sourced from Centro Internacional de Agricultura Tropical (CIAT) in Colombia to understand how the changes in seed properties that have occurred during the domestication of beans have affected the microbial communities associated with bean seeds, and their ability to support bean growth and health.

The Preston group is also interacting with colleagues at El Instituto Nacional de Innovación Agropecuaria y Forestal (INIAF), Bolivia, to study the properties of another important South American crop, the pseudocereal quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa), which is notable for its high nutritional value and its ability to grow in a range of environments. Professor Preston is also currently engaged in a collaborative project funded by The Royal Society with Dr Andrés Gárriz from Instituto Tecnológico de Chascomús, Argentina to study the role of plant and

microbial chemicals in plant disease resistance. As a centre of crop domestication, Latin America is also an important centre of genetic diversity, and Professor Renier van der Hoorn has been exploring this diversity to understand the genetic basis of disease resistance in tomato.

Quinoa crops, Bolivia

POSTGRADUATE STUDENT PROFILEJavier Gilbert-Jaramillo

Ecuadorian Javier Gilbert-Jaramillo joined the Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics and the Dunn School of Pathology to pursue a doctorate on Zika and the developing brain. Javier is interested in the main metabolic complications, with a particular focus on the

possibility that brain energy metabolism is altered following Zika infection, contributing to developmental abnormalities. Javier’s research looks at the possibility that diet can alter the course of Zika infection and could even provide some degree of prevention of Zika-associated abnormalities and related neurological conditions.

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F I G H T I N G Z I K A – A M U LT I D I S C I P L I N A R Y A P P R O A C H

Latin America is home to some of the most vibrant emerging economies in the world. With economic globalisation comes an increased movement of goods and people and the development of megacities. This increasing urbanisation and concentration of people creates the conditions for emerging pathogens and mosquito-borne diseases to thrive. Despite affecting millions of people, diseases transmitted by mosquitoes, like Chikungunya, Zika, Dengue and Malaria are still neglected. The University of Oxford has a broad multi-disciplinary programme of research seeking to understand the impact of these diseases, develop vaccines, and draw lessons from the public health responses.

Understanding the impactThe Zika epidemic has left thousands of children in devastating life-debilitating conditions. Understanding the pathology and management of the condition remains a priority for the research community. An international team of researchers from Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (Dr Patricia Garcez), King’s College London (Dr Helen Stolp), and the University of Oxford (Professor Zoltán Molnár) has studied the development abnormalities associated with the Zika virus, funded by a grant from the UK Medical Research Council.

The team focused on how the Zika infection impacts blood vessel development in the brain, finding that infected brains displayed a reduction in vessel density and branching. These impaired vascular patterns were not only apparent in the brain, but also in the placenta and retina. The research improved understanding of how Zika impairs the formation of new blood vessels and brain neurons during development, emphasising the need for these effects to be considered in management and direct therapeutic targeting.

An adaptive platform for vaccine development A team lead by Arturo Reyes-Sandoval at the Jenner Institute, Nuffield Department of Medicine (NDM) is developing novel vaccines genetically engineered to tackle mosquito-borne outbreak pathogens. Genetic cassettes (segments of DNA) have been adapted from Zika, Dengue and Chikungunya viruses, as well as the Malaria parasite Plasmodium vivax. These novel developments are being taken from early design to clinical trials in Oxford and Mexico.

Professor Reyes-Sandoval is working with scientists at the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (UANL) in Mexico, where a phase Ib trial of a Zika and Chikungunya vaccine is taking place. He is also working with the Universidad Veracruzana (UV) and Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo (UMSNH), where clinical studies are aiming to understand immunity in individuals with previous exposure to these viruses.

Mapping public health responsesDr Javier Lezaun from the University of Oxford Institute for Science, Innovation and Society is working with Dr Ann Kelly from King’s College London and Dr Gustavo Matta from the Escola Nacional de Saúde Pública in Rio de Janeiro to trace the evolution of scientific knowledge about the Zika virus since the epidemic outbreak was detected in Brazil in 2015. The project seeks to understand how scientific research agendas are established in times of medical emergency, and the role that this knowledge plays in shaping public health responses.

In addition to its research outputs, the project will produce a series of training and educational resources to inform public health actors of the broader social, political and historical dimensions of emerging and uncertain medical threats.

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B U I L D I N G B I O M E D I C A L S C I E N C E C O L L A B O R A T I O N W I T H L A T I N A M E R I C AOver the past 4 years, the European research infrastructure consortium Instruct has been working to strengthen its collaboration with the international structural biology community, in particular with Latin America.

The consortium, based at the University of Oxford, has developed a series of initiatives focused on mobility, collaborative work, courses and workshops, to train students and young researchers from Latin American institutions.

In particular, Instruct has strong ties with groups belonging to the Center for Structural Biology of MERCOSUR (CeBEM), created in 2008. This productive collaboration kicked off with the workshop ‘Integrative methods in Structural Biology to enhance high impact research in health and disease’. The event was organised by Instruct-UK (University of Oxford) and the Institute Pasteur Montevideo (IPM) in response to a British Council initiative to encourage international research collaboration between Uruguay and the UK.

After the workshop a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed between Instruct and the IPM to

strengthen ties. Through connections started at the workshop this MOU was followed by similar agreements with Instituto de Biología Molecular y Celular de Rosario (IBR, Argentina), Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas de La Plata ¨Professor Dr. R.R.Brenner¨ (INIBIOLP, Argentina), Instituto de Químicay Fisicoquímica Biológicas (IQUIFIB, Argentina),Centro de Biología Estructural (CBE, Venezuela), The Universidade de Sao Paulo (USP, Brazil), Universidad de la República (UdelaR, Uruguay), and Leloir Institute Foundation (Argentina).

Instruct has been able to open an access call for scientists working in institutions that have signed MOUs to apply to access the Instruct Research Infrastructure. Up to 10 proposals will be selected with funds provided to cover access costs for Instruct centres hosting approved proposals.

The workshop in Montevideo has had a lasting effect in fostering a long lasting partnership between the structural biology community in Europe and Uruguay, giving access to state of the art research infrastructure not only for Uruguay but for the whole region.

Y O U N G L I V E S I N P E R UIn 2018, a multidisciplinary team including Dr Marta Favara from the University of Oxford and Dr Alan Sanchez from Group for the Analysis of Development (GRADE) – a non-profit research centre in Peru – was awarded a UK Global Challenges Research Fund grant to investigate “Inequality of opportunity in Peru: How can young people develop relevant skills and find decent employment in a rapidly changing labour market?”

The two-year research project involves in-depth and high-quality interdisciplinary research to explore the individual and structural challenges young people in Peru face to

develop relevant skills for the labour market and access meaningful work. For the project, the team is using data from the Young Lives (Niños del Milenio) project – a 15 year longitudinal study tracking the life of 12,000 children in Ethiopia, India (Andra Pradesh and Telangana), Peru and Vietnam.

The analysis aims at identifying strategies and policy tools that bring together the labour demand and supply analysis, improve skills development for decent jobs and contribute to a more inclusive education, skills development and labour market.

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P A R T N E R I N G O N M U S E U M S C I E N C E E N G A G E M E N T The University Museum of Natural History (MNH) has been working with the Museu de Ciências e Tecnologia in the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul (PUCRS), based in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on models of science engagement in museums. PUCRS has an innovative model for science outreach that involves a mobile museum as the first stage, and which provides an initial point of engagement. The mobile museum is based

in a 42 tonne truck that, when unpacked, fills a sports stadium with over 60 science experiments, whilst the truck itself converts into an immersive 3D cinema. The second stage in the model is to bring schools back to the museum and the third stage is a network of out-of-schools science groups run by postgraduate students. This chimes with current work in MNH which has established a series of out-of-school science clubs for young people, and has been experimenting with other modes of informal engagement in a scheme entitled Project Insect.

The work is underpinned by a common interest in building science capital – a confidence and awareness in engaging with science and science issues – together with the creation of more diverse and representative cohorts of young people entering science as a degree and/or career. Over the last two years this has involved exchange visits, the sharing of best practice, two conferences on science engagement and a joint British Council-funded project working with school teachers in socio-economically disadvantaged areas of Rio Grande do Sul. Future plans include an edited volume of case studies and an international conference to explore varied models of engagement.

M U S E U N A C I O N A L – N E W L I N K S A F T E R T H E F I R E In September 2018, fire consumed Rio de Janiero’s 200-year-old Museu Nacional – one of the most important museums in the Americas. Over 20 million items were destroyed, and all but a small portion of its archives went up in flames. The loss was variously described as “incalculable”, “an unbearable catastrophe”, and “a lobotomy of the Brazilian memory”.

As a gesture of solidarity and recognition of Museu’s importance, the University of Oxford, in an initiative led by the Brazilian Studies Programme at the Latin

American Centre in collaboration with the School of Anthropology & Museum of Ethnography, offered a recognised student position to a PhD candidate of the Programa de Pós Graduação em Antropologia Social (PPGAS) from Museu Nacional. Jefferson Scabio was the first student to visit as part of the exchange, taking up the opportunity to come to Oxford for two terms to access the University’s libraries, museums, and seminars. He described the experience as “a small but significant step on the long way of reinventing what the fire has devoured.”

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C O L L A B O R A T I O N I N E D U C A T I O N A N D R E S E A R C H – I n t e r n s h i p s f o r B r a z i l i a n a n d M e x i c a n s t u d e n t s

The Nuffield Department of Medicine (NDM) has signed agreements with six leading universities and public health laboratories in Mexico, leading to the creation of the NDM-Mexico initiative to support collaborative work between various research groups in Oxford with scientists from Mexico, as well as student and academic exchanges.

Collaborative laboratories have been set up at the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo (UMSNH), Laboratorio Estatal de Salud Pública de Michoacán (LESP), and the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla (BUAP) under the initiative. And the NDM has committed funds to host four summer interns every year to participate in a research project in any of the multiple laboratories of the NDM. Undergraduate and MSc students from Mexico and Brazil take advantage of this opportunity to give shape to their future scientific careers, and as a potential pathway to further study at the University of Oxford.

F A C T S A N D F I G U R E SThere are currently 229 (mainly postgraduate) students from Latin American countries studying at Oxford, with particularly large communities of students from Brazil, Mexico, Chile and Colombia. Nearly half are studying subjects in Social Sciences.

The University employs 83 Latin American academic staff – the largest numbers from Mexico, Brazil, and Argentina.

Many leading writers, academics and politicians from Latin America have visited Oxford to lecture or to receive honours. Some of the most distinguished of the former have been Jorge Luis Borges, Carlos Fuentes, Manuel Puig, Mario Vargas Llosa and the Nobel Prize winner, Octavio Paz. Honorary doctorates were conferred on Pablo Neruda in 1965 and on Jorge Luis Borges in 1971.

B R I N G I N G P O L I T I C A L L E A D E R S T O G E T H E RThe Blavatnik School of Government at the University of Oxford has a number of collaborations with the Latin America region. Leading up to the 2018 Brazilian elections, Departmental Lecturer Anna Petherick ran a survey to understand how reflecting on Dilma Rousseff’s presidency affected Brazilians’ assessments of women competing in non-presidential elections, and only in May 2019 Juan Manuel Santos, former Colombian president and Nobel laureate, spoke at the School.

A five-year partnership with the Lemann Foundation has been supporting students and practitioners from Brazil to study and spend time in Oxford. In the last year the Foundation also brought the Encontro de Autoridades to the School, in which more than 65 influential leaders from Brazil’s government, academic, business and non-profit sectors came together, bridging political divides. In addition, there is the network created by the 90 students from Latin America who have attended the School since 2012. This includes Maria Soledad Nuñez Mendez, who at just 31 was appointed Minister of Housing and Habitat for Paraguay, becoming the youngest person ever to serve in Paraguay’s cabinet and the first woman to hold this position; two Members of Parliament in the Panama National Assembly; and a member of Brazil’s House of Representatives.

Mexican intern, Elizabeth Irina Figueroa Juárez

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Arrows made by Shavante and Waiyana Indians, Amazonian Brazil and Suriname. Collected during fieldwork by Peter Rivière and Audrey Butt in the 1950s and now held at the Pitt Rivers Museum. Includes 1960.6.9.

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The International Strategy Office University of Oxford Wellington Square Oxford OX1 2JD

Email: [email protected]

Tel: +44 (0)1865 280 417

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